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Paul Thek en Franz Deckwitz: een kunstenaarsvriendschap

In 1967 the 33-year-old American artist Paul Thek embarked on an extended stay in Europe. This represented a turning point in his career. The environments that he created between 1968 and 1973 in various European museums were made up of fantasy landscapes replete with symbolic meaning. The creative process, usually with the assistance of others, played a crucial role in these exhibitions. The Amsterdam-based artist Franz Deckwitz was one of those who assisted Thek but he was, above all, a loyal friend.

Their friendship is documented in the Paul Thek archive that Deckwitz’s family gave on permanent loan to Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in 2011. Comprising letters, photographs and other documents, it forms the basis of this Boijmans Study, which focuses on the friendship between the two artists and Thek’s links with the Netherlands and Rotterdam.